In this Friday February 8, 2013, photo, a Free Syrian Army fighter sits behind an anti-aircraft weapon in Aleppo, Syria. Syrian rebels brought their fight within a mile of the heart of Damascus on Friday, seizing army checkpoints and cutting a key highway with a row of burning tires as they pressed their campaign for the heavily guarded capital, considered the likely endgame in the nearly 2-year-old civil war. (AP Photo/Abdullah al-Yassin)
(The Associated Press)

ISTANBUL – Turkish media say a car bomb has exploded near a crossing point along Syria's border, killing at least five people.

State-run Anadolu news agency says the explosion happened Monday on Turkish soil, about 40 meters from a border gate in the Reyhanli district of Hatay province. Anadolu says five people were killed.

The border area between the two countries has been the scene of often fierce fighting between rebels and President Bashar Assad's forces during the nearly two-year-old Syrian conflict.